The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-11-25
SAINTS, RESTING PLACE.
Tradition and History of the Isle OF
AViliOn.
ftom "a Lonton Daau Nelcs

Avilion.
from the London Daily Ne,cs.
In one of his finest poems Tennyson paints
an ideal land which, 1 suppose most of us
would be glad to realize and convert into
great ''health resort, y free from meteoro-
logical forecasts;
The island valley of Avon.
Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly: but it lies
Deep meadowed, happy, fairwith the orchard
lawns
And bowery hollows, crowned with summer sea.
The real Isle of Avilion, unfortunately.
falls short in some not unimportant particu-
lars of this poetic region; though it isa very
fair and specially interesting spot. Nolonger
an island, though-as it was when the Brit
ons, seeing it surrounded by the crystal
waters of an estuary, picturesquely named
il Ynyswytryn, or THE CLASSY Island y
which the Saxons translated into Glesting-
abvrig since smoothed into Glastonbury.
Here in some unseen fairy bower sleep the
great King Arthur until the time shall come
for him to awake and rally his scattered
hosts and recover his lost crown. Here,
according to an Irish legend, st. Patrick lies
in the blessed odor of sanctity. And hither,
says tradition of the church, came Joseph
of Arimathea, with eleven other of st. Phil
ips disciples, some thirty years after the
great tragedy on Calvary, to attempt the
conversion of the angels. A piece of
ground-a "hiden to every man--was grant
ed to missionaries by Arivagus, the King of
the country, on which they proceeded to
build church, and to erect for their own
accommodation 'tabernacles of woven
boughs," thus founding Glastonbury. The
story goes that st. Joseph, pausing to rest
with his companions on the long ride now
known as Weary-all Hill, thrust into the
ground his pilgrims staff, which straight
way budded and blossomed like young
tree, and took root and waXed strong and
vigorous, and for centuries continued, inre-
membrance of its miraculous origin, to
flower every Yule tide, hooking with leaf
and blossom the winter snow. Observe that
this miracle was duly attested bya fiat
stone inserted i'll the ground at the exact
spot where the thorn grew and dourished
After seeing the stone could you doubt the
miracle!
Few of the English Benedictine abbeys
can have equaled that of Glastonbury in
wealth, in beauty of position, in architec-
tural magnificence and IN sanctity. Its
monks boosted that it was richer than all
save Westminster, and larger than all save
st. Paul's. As for its position, l can con-
ceive of none more picturesque From the
southern base of the Mendips a sealike plain,
green and undulatlng, stretches, league
after league, away TO the Bristol Channel,
and above this plain, often flooded in win
ter storms, abruptly rise numerous rocky
eminences. AT the foot of one of the largest
stands the famous abbey, looking out from
the shade of its venerable trees upon broad
pastures and patches of emerald foliage and
yellow cornfield, and afar to the blue edge,
where the sky and sea appear to meet. AS
for its sanctity, apart from its legendary
and traditional associations, Glastonbury
may claim TO be hallowed ground, because
it has enshrined the dust of saints and
princes. In front of the altar of the abbey
church slept st. Gildas, the author. Or sup
posed author, of the de Excidio Britannia, y
and near him ST. Indract:s, the martyr,
while the bones of th9 greaj archbishop, St
Dunstan, the first of our great ecc. esiastical
statesmen, were among its mSJl precious
relics. To be sure, the monks had acquired
them by an act of sacrilege, for after the
Danes had sacked Canterbury in 10l1, some
of them journeyed to the ruined cathedral,
broke open St Dunstan's tomb and, carry
ing off his bones. his ring and other memo
rials, had returned to Glastonbury eXultant
For upwards of a century and a half the
il-gotten treasures were carefully concealed
and then, relying on the fact of this long
possession to give them a legal title, the
monks ventured to exhibit them. 1t was
pretended that this fortunate abbey also
held the still more precious relics of King
Arthur In the days of Richard /. the then
abbot caused his reputed tomb to be opened,
and behold sixteen feet below the surface
was discovered great coffin, which had
evidently been hewn out of the trunk of an
oak. 1t was divided into two sections, in
one of which lay the bones of large man,
in the other those of a female. A leaden
cross bore Latin inscription. identifying
the male skeleton as that of King Arthur,
but iopOrinor the iOo'S TnpiOO (,Oni6
it be any other than Queen Guinevere2
Having been removed by reverent hands,
the relics were placed in a mausoleum of
black marble, which disappeared after the
suppression of the abbey. Such is the tale
as told by monkish chroniclers. What a
pity that it was not truel